Saturday, June 19, 2010

How to Make Soccer Work for American Fans - Better Drama and More Offense

FIFA 2010 World Cup Scores
Looking at these scores for Group C, the group the USA is in, it is easy to see that soccer has a problem. Three of the four games are ties with only Slovenia defeating Algeria 1-0. The bottom line is that good sports equals good drama.
Because the offense is at such a disadvantage, as proven by the scores, the sport lacks the ability to distinguish between good and mediocre teams. The result is that the sport lacks drama and is rife with controversy.
In American sports, especially American Football, the sports governing authority reviews the rules to encourage more offense and a better experience for the fans. The result is incredible drama, incredible quarterback performances and the greatest fan loyalty of any american sport.

How to promote more offense in Soccer
My idea is simple but revolutionary. Here it is. The current field at the World Cup is surrounded by a fens that is about three feet high. It is the fence covered by the advertisements. I would stiffen up this fence and use it as part of the field. In other words, there would be no out of bounds unless the ball went over the fence. The players could ricochet the ball off the fence. Currently, the fence is slanted up a little. I would make the fence rigid and perpendicular to the field. I would keep it the same height.
Here is the revolutionary part. I would keep the fence as it currently is behind the goal. This way the players could run plays behind the goal like in hockey. This would totally change the scoring.
Now, if the governing body doesn't want to make this as radical a change then they could keep the out of bounds lines of the current system on the ends. But, I think the behind the goal aspect is the key. WOW!!! This would totally make soccer high scoring and the better team could be easily discerned as the scoring would have the ability to differentiate between good and mediocre teams.